The lake at Eldridge Park turns pewter and goes perfectly still, and that is Elmira's way of announcing that winter has arrived for real. New Leaf Property Services works the months that follow: plow down at the first accumulation, walkways scraped to the concrete, ice broken off a step before it can decide to stay. The Chemung Valley collects weather the way a bowl collects rain, so snow that starts as a rumor up on the hills is usually serious by the time it reaches the flats along the river. Getting ahead of it is the whole art — one early pass, then another, so nobody wakes to a wall at the end of the drive. A cleared property in January is a small and generous thing, and it is what this crew leaves behind at every stop.